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USK is playoff bound

Unlikely streak lands team in second season

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 23rd, 2008 issue

Ken Scalabroni flipped a page on his calendar and there it was — a month of Sundays.
How else to explain this miracle run? Entering their final swing through the NBL schedule, Scalabroni’s USK Praha club was readying itself for a postmortem. Mired in ninth place, two games in arrears of Sadská and three behind Brno, only a few optimists clung to hope of a playoff berth. 
But after knocking off Prostějov 84-77 in its regular season finale, the once-struggling squad is set to face Nový Jičín in the championship’s opening round.
“Confidence is a funny thing,” said USK guard Andrej Vokotič. “[This] proves we’re a playoff team. We’re not the favorites, but we’re not going to be afraid of anybody.”
“We played a pretty good round,” Scalabroni said. “The players understand their roles better and are playing them out better.”
The improbable finish seemed unlikely after USK dropped a must-win contest in Brno March 12. But then hell froze over: Scalabroni’s charges won seven of the next nine games. Sometimes inept guard Lukáš Kotas suddenly found his touch, racking up 41 points in a critical victory over Liberec March 15 and posting 17.2 points per game over the last 10 match ups — far ahead of his sluggish 12.8 season mark.
“Lukáš is developing,” the coach explained. “He’s becoming more aggressive.”
USK regulars Lucious Wagner, Muris Andelija and Roderick Platt joined in the merriment, combining with Kotas to guarantee almost 60 points each time out over the same period.
Meanwhile, Prague’s rivals for the final playoff spot wavered. Brno slipped into a tie with USK going into the season’s final weekend while Sadská tumbled out of contention entirely, lapsing in eight of their final 10 contests.
USK’s win over Prostějov on the season’s final weekend locked them into a first-round series against Nový Jičín beginning April 26. Scalabroni’s late blooming squad took two of four hard fought games from them this year.
“We can win,” the coach said.
And after a month of miracles, few would dispute such a claim.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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